Three injured workers and their advocate lobbied for changes to workers compensation at a National Press Gallery media event this week..The press conference was hosted by Rae Banwarie, founder and CEO of C&E Intellectual Solutions. His company is advocating improvements for WCB programs nationwide and for better legal assistance for injured and disabled workers. .“The care and the processes are different in every province. Now I understand that these boards are all under provincial jurisdiction, but we need a national program overseen by the federal minister of Labour,” Banwarie said..The former 20-year RCMP officer and former president of the Mounted Police Professional Association of Canada helped lead a successful court battle to allow RCMP workers to unionize. He wants to meet and discuss injured worker issues with the Labour Minister Seamus O’ Regan Jr, and Justice Minister David Lametti..“The minister responsible for employment for jobs should be working hand-in-hand with the representative from the WCB boards to find these people work,” said Banwarie. “That is a huge gap that is missing.”.Norman Traversy, a former Mississauga firefighter of 27 years, spoke about his experience with the Workplace Safety Insurance Board in Ontario..“I was injured several times. I fell through a floor in a fire. I had a roof collapse on my head in a fire. I ended up diagnosed with severe PTSD and 28% disability for spinal injuries,” Traversy recalled..Traversy was reassigned to work at Mississauga Fire Department headquarters, a multi-floor building without an elevator. He knew one worker who had to crawl up and down the stairs for his job..“I was having trouble with stairs, and I said I'm not crawling up the stairs. I'm not crawling for my job. And so they transferred me to Mississauga City Hall,” Traversy said..City hall was a “toxic, violent workplace,” he alleged..“Another disabled firefighter was physically attacked by his supervisor who choked him ... I reported this to the city manager and I was suspended without pay while they investigated,” Traversy said..“They refused to give me a copy of the investigation, which they're required to do by law. And then, after 14 months without pay, with a wife and three daughters and a mortgage, they brought me to a cubicle that had a shower curtain across it.”.According to Traversy, a sign made for his workspace read, “Norman Traversy the caged animal.”.“My symptoms, PTSD, got worse. The city doctor told me to stay home because this was dangerous. They fired me. WSIB knew all about it. They condoned it, and they made money off it. This has got to stop. I buried three friends, three co-workers in two years. Suicide,” Traversy said, calling WSIB “a criminal organization.”.“They've got over $60 billion surplus in Ontario alone. It’s invested on the stock market. I've gone to the RCMP, the OPP, Peel Regional Police, Toronto Police, no one will investigate… This is an affinity fraud, which is where you force someone to pay for a service that is not provided. And it's gotta stop.”.Regina Police Service Officer Heather Gray retired in 2001 at the advice of her doctor. She had PTSD from dealing with violent crimes against children and adversity from her colleagues..“I was the hostage negotiator and a detective in the Child Abuse Unit when I suddenly found myself targeted by another detective who set out to derail my career. And he and his cronies, four of them, decided that they were going to take me out. And day by day, little by little, torment after torment, over the course of three years, they did just that,” said Gray..Gray found out she qualified for a WCB claim and a tribunal ruled in her favour in 2005. However, the RPS appealed successfully to a board tribunal, preventing her from receiving benefits..“They had decided in my favor, citing ample evidence of bullying, and I was awarded wage loss benefits, and a two year treatment program in Edmonton where I was now residing. The RPS decided they were not done with me yet, and so they set up a plan to foil the decision. They mounted a whole bunch of lies and fabrications, and I had no recourse to fight that,” Gray recalled..“That [decision] was [made] Aug 1, 2007. Within six weeks, my family had disintegrated under very tumultuous circumstances. Within two years I had to liquidate and sell my … beautiful home in Edmonton. A female former colleague of mine who is now a politician, lured me back to Regina under the pretense she would find me a government job, that my son and I could stay with her until we were stable.”.“And within weeks of arriving there, it was clear she was not going to help me. Not only that, but she and RPS senior management did horrific things to my son and I. And the upshot of that was they destroyed, contaminated, stole, and did everything imaginable to all our earthly belongings, doing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage to all our belongings, and we were left homeless.”.Gray said she liquidated all of her pensionable earnings to raise her 13-year-old son as a single mother and the circumstances drove her to contemplate suicide. She said the generosity of friends and colleagues has kept her housed the past 15 years..“My injury of PTSD has me debilitated. I’m isolated; I suffer terribly from many symptoms. And I’ve worked with doctors on my own because I've not been given any treatment from WCB.”.“I'm going to a medical tribunal, which is very hard to find favour with them. That's my last chance. And failing that … I am seeking MAiD as an option, because I've run out of hope.”.Retired professional driver George Kavallis started in the food service industry in 1999. He installed and serviced vending machines until March 2018 when he suffered a workplace injury. .“WorkSafe BC completely ignored all the evidence cherry picked and manufactured their own false narrative. My legitimate claim was denied by WorkSafe so my case manager can receive a bonus. He got a raise and a promotion for fraudulent conduct. This WCB conduct is in several government reports now which showcase Criminal Code and Charter rights violations as a fact,” Kavallis said at the press conference..“After being bullied and harassed for several months my new employer terminated me without cause because they refused to accommodate my disability, which is a direct violation of Section 216 of the Criminal Code. For the last five years, I've tried everything to get my claim reopened.”.Kavallis said he suffered physically and mentally without relief..“Despite many attempts to get help, there is no real advocacy or access to the legal system,” said Kavallis..“Criminals get access to them [lawyers], but disabled people do not. Ask yourself why. In my travels, I found that my story is not unique. There are hundreds of thousands of victims all across Canada.”.The result, Kavallis said, is a “government-generated crisis” of harm to many and the profit of others..“WCB instead of taking care of its disabled workers, which is its mandate, would rather steal from them and invest in the stock market and defraud the taxpayer. There are over 6 million Canadians listed as disabled, and over 25 to 30% of them are related to workplace disabilities,” said Kavallis..“These problems are government-generated, they can be fixed. Unfortunately, all that's lacking is the will.”
